VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3, PAGE 28

CREED FAMILY ASSOCIATION

SEPTEMBER 1987

the stories varied. (Now, I know that It was Grandpa
Boyett's mother, Gincy Pike, not his wife, who was only 15--maybe 16--years
old when she married.) Anyhow, if Grandma was five years
younger than Grandpa, her date of birth would be 31 Aug 1863, as it is
on her tombstone. I do remember that it was after Mamma died
when George Elzie Kelley, my first cousin, came up to the house, on his
way to get Grandma's tombstone, to ask me Grandma's full name. I
told him "Sarah Thomas Ann Creed," and then I suddenly recalled my
conversation with Grandpa and that I had forgotten the name Grandpa
said, not "Creed." He didn't put "Creed" on the tombstone anyhow.
George Elzie said he had the dates of birth and death; at that time
I didn't known them. I think I do now, and I am convinced that she wasn't
born in 1863.

About 15 or 20 years ago, I started looking for Grandma's people with
the name "Creed" and the accepted date 1863 as the true facts on
which I would base my search. I thought that if the 1870
census records if I found a man named Creed fairly old, with a little
girl named Sarah something,
age 7, in his household, I would recognize them as being Grandma
Boyett and her Grandfather Creed. I searched and searched,
and my genealogist friend, Mrs. Pauline Jones Gandrue, gave
me a notation of a Meshack Creed and family who had moved from AL to
Bradley Cc AR. I found on the Bradley Co Census of 1870 that
Meshack Creed had a daughter Mary who had married Elisha Uriah Washington
Parker; he had died and left her with three children--John, Joanna, and
Sarah-- Sarah age 7 In the 1870 Census. I thought sure that
that Sarah Parker was Grandma, as the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit:
Meshack the Bible name, Sarah an orphan born 1863 in AR and in her Grandfather
Creed's household. Then--whether it was the power of suggestion or
not I cannot say--I thought I remembered that Grandpa had said that
Grandma's name was "Parker" and not "Creed." Well, I came to find out that
I was wrong, but not before I had met some Parker descendants in
Warren AR, and descendants of Meshack Creed--Mack Creed (and his
wife Mamie) and Mack's sister Kathlyn, of Ashland AL. I spent the day
with Mack and Mamie-- one of the happiest, even if the most disappointing,
in my life. One of the first
questions I asked Mack was if he had a George Creed in the family a
few years back. His
answer was no. Then we went to see a cousin of his, a very elderly
lady named Ethel Baggett, who had known Sarah Parker, to ask her if "Boyett"
was the name of the man Sarah married. Ethel said no.
I was sure then that Sarah Parker was not Grandma, but I did not want to
admit that I was wrong. Mack and Mamie later went to Chambers Co
and found Sarah Parker's grave, I think, and other incontrovertible proof
Meshack Creed's granddaughter Sarah Parker was not Grandma Boyett.

For a year or two after this, I didn't look for Grandma's people.
But in 1981 I
decided to try again. This time I would start with
the name George Creed and work backward. The Census of 1900 had just been
published, and I had a copy made for me of every "Creed" entry in it.
There weren't many--and there was only one George Creed, age 15,
born Dec 1884, living in Bessemer. So he was almost four years older than
Uncle George, and Bessemer was certainly North AL. His father was
David S B Creed, age 48, born In GA, according to the census. I took
a chance and wrote the AL Bureau of Vital Statistics and got a copy of
the death certificate of David Solomon B Creed, which named his father
Hiram Allen Creed and mother Sarah Creed, and gave their birthplace as
GA. David S Creed was 62 years old when he died and was buried in
Union Cemetery in Lipscomb according to the death certificate.
I went to the Union cemetery and found his grave. His tombstone gave his
correct date of birth and death: 28 Apr 1854 - 7 Feb 1916. I believed
then--as I do now--that this man, David S Creed, and his son George,
are the ones who used to visit Grandpa and Grandma. But I still didn't
know what relation they were to Grandma.
It was very easy to find David S Creed's father Allen Creed and
family in the Thomas Co GA 1850 Census, which was taken on 3 Sep
1850. They were listed on page 29 as Household 408.